The Schattenmann

Once worshiped as a god of darkness, the Schattenmann is a terrifying being, as ancient as the woods it haunts. The most feared of the many creatures reputed to lurk in the Schwartzen Walden, its shape is similar to that of an impossibly thin man, roughly twenty feet tall. Its torso is severely emaciated, its stomach sunken, and its ribs clearly outlined in its inky black flesh. Vicious claws, capable of severing a man’s torso in a single blow, extend from its fingertips. The worst is its face: that of a human man, but impossibly old, its eye sockets filled with shadow.
The Schattenmann is the preeminent bogeyman of the surrounding country, and with good reason. Many have entered the Schwartzen Walden over the years, and not all have returned. Worse, many who have are shattered by the experience, catatonic or incoherent for the remainder of their lives. Finally, even those who escape with their lives and sanity intact are not out of the woods: many disappear less than a month later. Few ever reappear, and those that do are not in any shape to speak of their experience: they are neatly sliced into sections, and stacked by the side of a road or in a nearby barn like cords of wood. The Schattenmann is held responsible for almost all of these terrifying incidents. Despite its terrible reputation, however, the Schattenmann does not kill without reason. Even intruders in the Schwartzen Walden are not automatically attacked, but merely observed. Should an interloper harm the trees of the forest in any way, the Schattenmann will exact vengeance. Perhaps not immediately, or even that day, but soon. Thanks to the scent of blackwood sap, which is undetectable to humans and impossible to wash off, the Schattenmann can track its quarry anywhere. All of that said, the Schattenmann is unpredictable. Heroes would be wise to avoid the Schwartzen Walden altogether, as even the most innocent intrusion may be answered with an attack from this horrible creature.